Nothing Phone 2A is Flashy Deal Offers Unbeatable Value

The Nothing Phone 2a is a good mid-range option since it is a dependable, reasonably priced phone with a stylish appearance and a simple operating system. It shows that it’s more than simply an improvement over the original Nothing Phone 1 with its sharp display, respectable performance, and long battery life.

With the Nothing Phone (2), the design-led UK firm upped the ante (and the price), and now it’s releasing its most approachable smartphone to date. The Nothing Phone 2a is still very much a Nothing phone, even if it has been simplified in comparison to the company’s flagship model. It has a large, bright display with rich blacks and beautiful colors, making it ideal for gaming and film viewing.

At a starting price of just £319, the Nothing Phone 2a seeks to deliver the now-familiar Nothing wow factor. It belongs to a subset of phones that are still significantly less expensive than the mainstream mid-range crowd, but are just too costly to be categorized as “budget.” How much of Nothing’s distinctive emphasis on visually arresting design and a seamless user experience has therefore had to be given up in the name of value? Incredibly little, as it happens.

Price when reviewed: €291.68 | Check price at Amazon

Nothing Phone 2a KEY FEATURES

For this price range, the Nothing Phone 2a is an excellent pick because of its high performance, long-lasting battery, and clean operating system. The design is original and striking, but the plastic construction and reduction in the Glyph lighting system make it less fascinating than its predecessors. A powerful display that provides bright and clear graphics while maintaining high contrast and refresh rates. The MediaTek 7200 Pro chip provides quicker performance than the Nothing Phone 1. The Nothing OS is one of the lineup’s standouts, with an easy-to-use, simple design that is free of pre-installed software. It is likewise fast and responsive but only provides three years of support.

Not the brightest or most detailed display in the room, but it does an adequate job of presenting mainly true-to-life colors and better-than-expected low-light performance. While not a powerhouse, the Phone 2a’s performance is equivalent to that of most other phones in its price range, making it ideal for everyday work and light gaming. Big battery. Large 5000mAh battery with quick 45W charging. If you want a simple, dependable phone that can last for days before being swiftly recharged and ready to go again, the Phone 2a is an excellent alternative.

NOTHING PHONE 2A UNBOXING

Nothing has always had an artistic touch and vision for its products, extending to packaging and accessories. The Nothing Phone 2a is packaged in an eye-catching cardboard box embossed with the phone’s design components on the top. That is, beneath the black covering sleeve. The sleeve is visually appealing, replete with the signature Nothing dot matrix font. The box is strong and appears to be fully composed of cardboard, including the internal cradle that firmly holds the phone.

However, it is not only the packaging that is appealing. The attention to detail extends to the accessories. They’re fairly limited. However, both the SIM ejector tool and the USB Type-C to Type-C connection feature a unique design inspired by the phone itself.

We like the cable’s clear connectors, however, it is a plain non-eMarked cable, which means it can only transport 3A of power and 5Gbps of data. Nonetheless, none impairs the capabilities of the Nothing Phone 2a, so we can’t complain. We wish there was a charger in the box, but that is how it is.

CAMERA

• 50MP main and 50MP ultra-wide.
• 32 megapixel selfie camera.
• Redesigned camera module compared to Phones 1 and 2

For photography, the Nothing Phone 2a has a dual camera configuration on the back: a 50MP primary sensor and a 50MP ultra-wide sensor. In a word, these cameras are ‘decent’ but not particularly brilliant or sharp, and apart from the occasional hiccup when opening the camera app, focussing and shooting feel quick enough.

By default, the rear cameras take 12MP still images, which are adequate for social media use but unremarkable. You can configure the phone to shoot in 50MP mode, which increases the amount of detail captured, but it locks your focal length, preventing you from zooming, a similar trade-off to the previous model, making it less adaptable.

Details were acceptable at a 12MP distance but did not hold up under close inspection. Some photographs demonstrated the camera’s struggle to capture a wider dynamic range, resulting in some elements being overly dark or blown out.

Like most phone cameras lacking a telephoto sensor, image quality suffers substantially when zoomed in all the way, with the phone’s attempts at sharpening in post merely making the resulting photographs worse. Colors appear saturated and bright, however, several pictures are dreadfully underexposed. This was particularly evident in one photo I took, which featured bright greens and yellows but appeared gloomy and somber.

Low-light performance is a welcome surprise, particularly with the 2a’s primary camera. It is supported by OIS (optical image stabilization) to reduce and prevent excessive motion blur. While I could tell my nighttime photographs had been altered in camera, they still appeared realistic. The front camera appears to be an increase from the Phone 1’s 16MP sensor to a 32MP sensor, which will assist capture more information when conversing on video calls and snapping selfies.

DESIGN AND SCREEN

• A signature semi-transparent design is kept.
• The body is mostly plastic, but it feels solid.
• 6.78″ 1.5K 120Hz AMOLED display
• Peak brightness up to 1,300 nits.

One of the most important improvements to the Nothing Phone 2a is its redesigned appearance, which is a subtle but undeniable divergence from the look set by the prior Nothing Phones. The stripped-back glyph illumination, plastic body, and relocated camera all indicate that the Nothing Phone 2a is substantially different from its predecessors. It keeps Nothing phones’ signature flat-edged look, curving frame, and semi-transparent back.

The unique Glyph system is still intact, albeit in a more compact form that only occupies the top third of the phone, with three LED elements around the rear camera module. It still delivers soft, fill illumination when using the camera, although it is significantly less powerful than previous versions’ more extensive Glyph systems.

Despite the more modest Glyph lighting, the Phone 2a’s back can still provide visual cues for notifications and ringtones without requiring you to look at the screen, and the Glyph timer returns to count down to that ideal soft-boiled egg. One of my favorite Glyph features is third-party integration with apps like Uber, which works as well on the Phone 2a as it does on Nothing’s other phones. It operates similarly to the timer feature and displays a visual time, with one LED gradually lighting up as your automobile approaches; however, it only works if your phone is face down on the table.

Meanwhile, the lower half of the phone’s back resembles an asymmetrical ribbon cable, which serves only to enhance the Phone 2a’s particular appearance. It’s more difficult to enjoy the nuances on our review device because, unlike the Phone 2’s gray finish, Nothing has returned to a genuine black hue, making fine design features appear slightly darker, but these visual nuggets are at least more obvious on the white and Milk finishes.

Nothing has replicated the Phone (2)’s larger 6.7-inch display, albeit the Nothing Phone (2a) isn’t quite as successful. It’s another bright AMOLED display with the same 1080 x 2412 (FHD+) resolution, but it’s not an LTPO panel. This means it can’t adapt its refresh rate as easily, making it less energy efficient. The phone’s (2a) screen is likewise not as bright as its bigger brother. It will reach 1100 nits in bright sunshine, with a high of 1300 nits with HDR video content. Typically, it can reach 700 nits.

HDR10+ is still supported, so media content continues to look excellent. Indeed, this is a reasonably good display for the price. After switching to the more realistic Standard color mode, I measured the color output, which was quite accurate. You also get a proper in-display optical fingerprint sensor, which worked well in my experience.

HOW’S THE PERFORMANCE?

• Effective performance for a mid-range phone.
• Very power-efficient.
• RAM Booster

Nothing has changed with the Phone 2a, which now uses the MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Pro instead of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chipset. This unique processor provides a little improvement in performance over the older Snapdragon 778G utilized in Phone 1.

Nothing claims. The Phone 2a outperforms its predecessor by 18% and is constructed on a more efficient 4-nanometer technology. The firm attributes this increase to better software and hardware integration, but I didn’t see any significant improvements in typical use, except gaming performance and battery life.

Day-to-day use was usually quick, with most apps snappy and responsive; however, the camera app occasionally took a few seconds to open, which may be frustrating when you just have a split-second to capture that perfect photo.

Benchmarks place its performance just below Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 7s Gen 2, which is used in the equivalent Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G; nevertheless, in regular use, I didn’t notice much of a difference between them.

Gaming on the Nothing Phone 2a exceeded expectations, especially given the low price point. Genshin Impact performed well on ‘ medium’ to ‘high’ settings, however, it stuttered when there was a lot of action and particle effects on screen. I also found that when I played games like Genshin and COD Mobile with the ‘high’ settings enabled, the phone got warmer, but not to the point where it was uncomfortable or hindered performance.

I was shocked to discover that Nothing did not feature a microSD expansion slot, which is still seen on several mid-range phones. This slot adds storage space and improves the value of some inexpensive phones, however, the Phone 2a is limited to the onboard 128GB or 256GB storage.

Buy it if...

• The Glyph Interface provides a unique and eye-catching look as well as a surprising amount of additional functionality.
• A rather bright OLED with a refresh rate of 120Hz, 10-bit colors, and HDR capability.
  Excellent battery life and charging speed.
• Unique and unified software design and look, with plenty of bespoke features but virtually no bloat.
• Excellent performance, with little thermal throttling.
• Excellent all-around camera performance. Excellent video stabilization and a specific night mode for video.

Don't buy it if…

• There was no charger in the box.
• The back surface is quite difficult to clean and collects a lot of grease and grime.
• High refresh rate gaming is not well supported.
• Night mode for photographs has slightly perplexing behavior.

FULL SPECIFICATION